A Harris County, TX deputy pulled Charnesia Corley over for allegedly running a stop sign on June 21. The deputy said he smelled weed coming from inside her vehicle.

The resulting traffic stop near a Texaco gas station concluded with Corley being detained and charged for resisting arrest, along with possession of .02 ounces of marijuana. The arrest happened after a degrading roadside cavity search, which took place in plain sight of passerby.

Corley resisted and the deputies forced her face-first to the ground, her attorney, Samuel Cammack III, said. The female deputy then climbed onto Corley’s back and pinned her, while the officers awaited the arrival of a second female deputy, according to the lawyer. After the second female deputy arrived, the two women officers held Corley down and forcibly spread her legs, Cammack said.

“One held one leg and the other held the other leg and they stuck their fingers up inside of her,” said Cammack. “This was in a Texaco parking lot, where people were walking by and cars were driving by. This was a very busy area.”

Martin called the incident “nuts,” saying if the officer did in fact smell weed on Corley, he should have “slapped some cuffs on her” and conducted the search at the county jail. “I don’t understand how you do that kind of search in a gas station parking lot,” said Martin.

NewsOne Now panelist Angela Peoples, Co-Director of GetEQUAL, said, “This speaks to the broader devaluing of female life.” Prior to that, she explained, “The problem is exactly what the deputy said: ‘This is in line with our policies and procedures. This is what we’re allowed to do.’”

“That is why we need a full review, dismantling and rebuilding of how we do prisons, how we treat crime and punishment and rehabilitation, and how we do policing in this country,” said Peoples.